There are angels among us, and they have cookies.

Illinois Sunset

Some Awesome Members of Our Ward

Familia y amigos,

Thursday night we didn't get much sleep, and by 4 pm Friday we were
dragging our feet. An inspired and wonderful worker at the food pantry
gave us 10 homemade chocolate chip cookies, and they literally saved
us! The sugar gave us just the boost we needed to get through the day.
Your prayers of protection and strength are being answered, in the
form of delicious treats. :) 

We decided to set our iPads to Spanish to help us practice, and it is
much easier than I thought it would be. I guess I actually am
learning! 

 This has been another week of miracles! Last week I mentioned that our
English students were coming to a Noche de Hogar (family home evening)
at the bishop's house Monday night. That went far better than we ever
could have planned! Not only did Irene and Ricardo come on time, but
they brought their 4 kids and Irene's parents that are here visiting
from Mexico! The bishop invited some ward members, and we grilled
hamburgers and just sat outside on the back patio, talking and
laughing. Everyone got along really well. Hmna Buehner and I shared a
message about eternal families and temples. The spirit was strong and
everyone (especially Irene's parents) were involved and paying
attention. Bishop piped in at the end and shared his testimony that
Irene's parents will be able to live with their children again who
have passed away. Other members shared their testimonies of eternal
families and temples. It was so awesome!!! It was a missionary's dream
FHE. The spirit teaches so much better than we can!

 A miracle I forgot to mention last week- we had 2 investigators at
church! Ana and Andres, a brother and sister. Ana is very dedicated to
her church and doesn't like the idea of reading anything except the
bible. But they both agreed to come to church and they seemed to enjoy
themselves. Andres is definitely more interested than her, but they
both participated a lot in Gospel Principles. When one of the elders
asked "who was the prophet of the restoration?" Andres answered "José
Smith!!" We were so proud! 

 This week we also had an inactive part member family come to church!
The Rodriguez family is so awesome. We were driving by their house and
Hermana Buehner felt inspired to stop because she recognized the
grandmother who was in her front yard. We've met with them twice, and
they came to church and the Father's Day activity! They are amazing
and want us to come over and do a noche de hogar with them. Guadeloupe
(the grandmother) and Berta (the daughter) really want to start coming
to church regularly and be a good example for their kids (who are not
baptized).

 Life is good here! Keep working hard and loving God!

 Hermana Hokanson

Banana Boats

Molcajete Salsa

Wait, it's Monday?‏

This week was so fast and so busy!

This was a week of miracles! It's hard to explain what this week has
been like. Many of our miracles were tender mercies, things I can't
even remember now, but in the moment meant the world to us. One big
miracle is that our English students Irene and Ricardo, who have had
no prior contact to the church, are coming to a noche de hogar tonight
at the Bishop's house!! We've never taught them religion, but we have
taught them English for almost 2 months now and they trust and love
us. We invited them as their friends, not missionaries or teachers.
And they are coming! We are teaching a lesson on eternal families and
temples, and we pray it will touch their hearts and make them want to
learn more.

Something that I never thought would be a problem: I have a Utah
accent! Teaching English class has made me very aware of this. I have
had to practice saying every 't' in every word I say. MounTain. LighT.
EvenTually. I'm really bad at it. :)

We have a New dress code for missionaries! We can now wear
professional hats and sun glasses, and long skirts during mosquito
season. No pants though (I'm ok with that, it's too hot for that
here). I got asked on a date for the first time, that was exciting! He
was much older than me though. We explained that we don't do that as
missionaries, and after inviting Hmna Buehner to come along too, and
saying he would buy the first pitcher of beer, he gave up. The mission
life is the most awkward thing I've ever done!

We had a Zone training this week. It was very spiritual and power
packed! We talked about how to better plan for our investigators and
members, and avoid pride. It was great!

The Monnreal family fed us this week, and we had quite the surprise.
There is an infamous food in the Spanish speaking Mission world called
Chicharrón. It is basically raw pork fat in a sauce. It definitely
wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I did feel sick for a
while afterwards.

Stanley is a worker at the food pantry we volunteer at. He is awesome
and a great friend. We all decided we would wear blue, so we were
matching this week! (Refer to picture in next email) a quote from
Stanley: "Be a blessing, not a lesson" - Stanley from the food pantry
We made Banana boats: bananas with marshmallows and chocolate chips.
So yummy! We ate them while we watched Meet the Mormons during our
dinner hour. Who said Hermanas couldn't have fun? Speaking of fun, we
bought a house plant. (See picture) her name is Platunia. Also
speaking of bananas, did you know if you rub the inside of the peel on
your mosquito bites, it helps with itching? It really works! It has
been a life saver this week with the summer temperatures coming in.
All my love!!!

Hermana Hokanson

What a week!‏

WE DID CHALK ART TO PREACH THE GOSPEL

FUN AT WALMART

Hello! 

 We have a New district and zone after these past transfers. A bunch of
great missionaries! They made it so our district is Spanish only, so
now we hold all district meetings in Spanish and do all communication
within the district in Spanish, even texts and phone calls! 

 Some people from this week: 

Saenz sisters: a woman and her niece live in our ward. That are
amazing, and fed us twice this week. They are so funny and witty and
help me laugh at myself and my broken Spanish. They might move back to
Utah, so keep and eye out! 

Roger: remember Roger? Well he called us one night, and said the only
time he was available for an appointment was the next morning at 10am.
His aunt is not very open to us teaching in her home, so we scrambled
and found a member who was available the next morning so we could
teach in their home. We got everything set up, but he didn't show! We
were a bit frustrated. But we know he came to church for a reason, and
in God's time we will be able to teach him. Prayers! 

Guadelupe: we were referred to visit a house by the English elders.
They didn't give us a name, so we didn't know what to expect.
Guadalupe answered the door, an older and very kind looking woman. She
told us she already had religion, but as we got talking she invited us
into her home and showed us all her birds, pictures of her kids and
grandkids, and warmed up to us very quickly. We said a prayer with Her
and asked God to help her family member that's really sick. She was
very appreciative of that and told us we could come back whenever we
wanted. As we were leaving, she exclaimed "i know why you are here!"
And pointed to the ground by her bushes. There sat a duck. A real life
duck, in her yard, sitting on 11 eggs. It's not her duck, it just
decided a few years ago to make its home here. She says it hasn't
eaten in 22 days. How that is connected to us I could not tell you,
but it was pretty crazy. Are ducks an omen? 

Juan Pablo: we got another meeting with him! Thank goodness. He is
progressing well and might come to a noche de hogar tonight! Fingers
crossed.
Tom: we were walking down the street and a man with no shirt yelled
from his front doorway "hey! Mormons!" I responded instantly with
"como?" He admonished me for speaking Spanish to him, and pointed to
his white skin. We were a bit unsure what to do in this situation, but
he smiled and said "come on over! Let me get a shirt on!" We ended up
talking to Tom for a half hour. He is Roman Catholic, and love the
sister missionaries because he says we are always the most friendly
people. He is a great guy and it was so fun to meet him. 

Armando: a new investigator! He seems very genuine and wants to study
and know for himself the truth. Prayers!
Yeps: a family in our ward that is so amazing. We taught them last
night after dinner, all sitting around a camping stove fire pit in the
back yard, and I felt like I was home again. It was a powerful lesson
and the spirit was there. People like this make being away from home
not so hard. 

Joe: a security guard at the library we go to almost every day. He is
so friendly and nice, and is our new buddy. He is religious and loves
that we are serving missions. 

 Something I saw this week was that no matter who we are talking to,
and if they accept our message or not, they recognize us as servants
of the Lord. It is amazing. We can see it in the way they treat us and
the way they act, they instantly respect us and what we do. What
better testimony that this work is true? 

Love you all, Bauticemos a todos! 

 Hermana Hokanson 

 1319 Butterfield rd ste 522
Downers Grove IL 60515-5515

MY ZONE BEFORE THE "BREAKUP"

DINNER WITH THE YEPS